


and all i had was fire

by celebreultimaverba, Royalwriter



Series: we'll rebuild this world for people like us [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Alternate Universe- His Dark Materials, Cobalt Soul, F/F, Slow Burn, fairytale inspirations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:27:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21888895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celebreultimaverba/pseuds/celebreultimaverba, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Royalwriter/pseuds/Royalwriter
Summary: Beauregard Lionett has the rudest daemon she's ever met, and as a member of the Cobalt Soul has been tasked with investigating the disappearances of children both within the Empire and beyond. But when she meets Jester Lavorre, a tiefling with divine powers that are both illegal, and unheard of, her journey gets more complicated.A His Dark Materials AU.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Series: we'll rebuild this world for people like us [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1576744
Comments: 17
Kudos: 134





	1. False Pretenses

Beauregard enters Nicodranas with an owl circling ominously above her head. He’s circling closer, closer, inches from grabbing her when—

“Jackass! Knock it off! You’re going to freak out the locals, just land on me already,” Beau snipes.

Her daemon squawks irritability at her. He won’t even dignify it with a verbal response. Asshole.

Meanwhile, Frumpkin, a _real_ daemon, has been curled around Caleb’s neck for most of the trip, speaking quietly to Caleb or sleeping.

Thaddeus sets down on Beau’s shoulder, digging in his talons as if to punish Beau for deigning to wish him not a jackass. She winces, but only barely. There are plenty of little pricks already on her shoulders that tell a better story than Beau ever could. He’s a prick, what else is there to say?

At least Thaddeus won’t immediately get them kicked out of this fancy club they’re investigating. Upset daemons are a sure way to get security on your ass.

Speaking of fancy club. “Caleb, what’s the name again?” Beau asks. 

“The Lavish Chateau. The Cobalt Soul was able to get us both tickets to see the Ruby of the Sea perform, and even a private appointment for you after.”

“Right, to bone.”

Caleb wrinkles his nose at her and Beau stifles a laugh. “No,” he says. “Explicitly, actually, not to bone. You have to project an aura of wanting to bone, but you can’t actually do it. Think you can pull that off?”

Beau shrugs, causing Thaddeus to dig his talons tighter into her shoulder, “Jackass, knock it off.”

“You almost shook me loose,” he half-hisses in her ear.

“No, I did not,” she snipes back.

Thaddeus shrugs his huge owl weight. Beau glances back over at Caleb, who’s politely pretending not to notice their argument. He’s scratching Frumpkin’s ears absentmindedly, just as a way to pass the time. A prick of envy colors her gut. She ignores it.

She returns to the conversation rather than replying to Thaddeus. “Anyways, I think, somehow, I can manage the extreme self restraint that will be necessary for me not to bone this woman. It might be hard, but I’ll manage.”

“You haven’t managed that well in the past.” 

“Hey!” Beau glares at Caleb. He holds his hands up in mock defense.

“There’s a track record.”

“I’ll kill you, right now, watch me.”

“You can do that. I do not doubt that. But then you will not have anyone to punch when you get excited.” 

Beau squints at him. Caleb presses his face into a mockery of a straight line, trying very badly to hide the fact that he’s smiling. 

“And, you will have to write down what I know, instead of just expecting me to remember everything,” he adds.

“Fine, but talk about my sex life again and that’s it, you go down.”

“I understand,” Caleb nods in mock sincerity.

Beau punches him on the shoulder, but lightly. She’s careful to avoid where Frumpkin lays on his shoulder. No touching.

Caleb winces anyway, but he always does that. Beau doesn’t really know how to punch “lightly” anymore.

“Better get to the room and get some of this road dirt off us, or they’ll drag us both out by the scruff of our neck before we even get close,” Beau says.

Caleb rolls his eyes, “I haven’t been filthy since you met me.”

Beau sticks her tongue out at him and he returns the gesture. They near their hotel. It’s not near the Lavish Chateau, but it’s a few minutes’ walk from it. They’re not staying at the Lavish Chateau in case something goes wrong with the plans.They walk the rest of the way in comfortable silence. Better to be bored than to accidentally reveal their plans to the whole city. Beau’s made that mistake before.

She lets out a low whistle when they get to the actual room. It’s snazzy, way nicer than anything they could afford on their own. There’s two queen sized beds, and the room even has its own hot running water.

As soon as the door closes, Thaddeus flutters up off her shoulder. She shrugs her jacket off as he does. “Damn— Caleb, we gotta travel on the Cobalt Soul’s budget more often. This shit is snazzy.” 

Caleb runs a hand over a blanket. “It is rather nice. Shame it’s only for a few nights.”

“Yeah, but we can get other equally nice shit if this gig lasts longer. Maybe I should actually start clearing everything with them, huh?”

“If you did that you would only be able to go on missions that they approve as legal and worthy of their time. I don’t think you could stand that,” Caleb replies.

“Fair point. Dibs on first bath!” Beau sprints into the bathroom and slams the door shut before Caleb can contest her point. Not that she thinks he would.

The water doesn’t take long to fill and it’s amazingly, blissfully hot. Beau sighs as her muscles release, sore from weeks on horseback and fights before that. She hasn’t been somewhere nice enough to have water this hot since she first started traveling, it’s amazing.

“Thad, do you want to get in on this? It’s pretty nice.”

Thaddeus can’t actually wrinkle his nose, but the expression he makes is a pretty good approximation. “You know you’re just soaking in your own dirt when you take a bath.”

“My own dirt, and soap and water, which will all dilute it all, but sure, yes. But suit yourself. So long as you don’t smell so bad you scare off the Ruby of the Sea.”

“She won’t be close enough to smell me.”

“Unless you’ve finally figured out a witch’s range, she probably will be. Don’t ruin this, okay? Just this once?” Beau shampoos her hair. It definitely needs the work.

“I _wish_ I had a witch’s range,” Thaddeus grumbles.

“So do I! But you don’t, so stop bitching about it and help, unless you want to be the reason we never find these kids.”

“They’re all probably gone anyway—”

Beau dunks her head under water to avoid any more of Thaddeus’ commentary. He, thankfully, takes the hint, and they don’t speak for the rest of the bath, Thaddeus seemingly enjoying the steam-cleaning the enclosed bathroom provides as Beau’s bath starts to cool.

Just under an hour later Beau emerges, drying her hair and rubbing herself dry. Not that she’ll admit it, but— she really needed that bath. Without it the plan might have failed based on her scent alone, without even getting Caleb involved.

Her outfit, though, now that she’s proud of. Black pressed slacks, a blue button up shirt, tuxedo vest with leather shoulder pads for Thaddeus, plus two gauntlets in case he decides he wants to be on her wrist. She’s even got a bow tie. It’s fancy enough to wear a gala, and hopefully fancy enough to keep the Ruby from changing her mind. The Cobalt Soul prepaid, but the Ruby of the Sea is notoriously picky and has been known to turn clients away who prepaid if they don’t meet her standards. Beau just hopes she’s good enough.

She combs out her hair so it’ll dry decently and tosses a clean towel to Caleb on her way out.

“Have at it. The water’s fine.” 

“I’m very excited to take my first ever bath. I have never before thought of this novelty,” Caleb deadpans. Beau laughs, and her laughter makes him laugh too. He closes the door behind him, Frumpkin weaving in between his legs.

Beau flops herself across a chair at the table in the room, looking through the file on the background information they have about the Ruby of the Sea. There’s not much in it. Even for someone in her profession, the Ruby of the Sea has done a remarkable job keeping secrets about her life. It wouldn’t be as suspicious if she wasn’t so famous.

Somehow, she’s managed to attract an almost world wide following, without anyone getting curious or smart enough to find out details about her. That, on top of transactions for children’s goods a couple years back, is what roused the Cobalt Soul’s suspicions. There’s no hint of a child, and there’s almost no way she has a kid that’s never left that building.

It’s likely that whoever’s been stealing these children needs to get them across bodies of water, so Nicodranas makes sense on top of that. It’s not much to go on, but it’s more than they’ve had for anything else in this case.

Beau’ll find out for sure tonight. Or later this week if the Ruby of the Sea isn’t willing to answer their questions in private. Beau’s hopeful that she will. She has _many_ methods of persuasion.

* * *

When Caleb and Beau approach the Lavish Chateau, two guards take a step towards them.

“Tonight’s show is private— Do you have reservations?” The larger of the two zolezzo, with his daemon some sort of mutt sitting quietly but attentive next to him, demands.

Caleb steps forward. “We do. Caleb Widogast and Frumpkin, and Beauregard Lionett with her daemon, Thaddeus.”

At the mention of Beau’s name, the guard straightens and nods. It’s nice. Usually that only happens when someone’s gearing up to try to kick her out a place. Weird to see it in a positive context.

“Of course. You should have a table inside, someone should show you once you enter.”

True enough, an employee takes Caleb’s coat once they’re inside, and shoots a glance at Thaddeus on Beau’s shoulder before seemingly deciding against going for hers.

“Good call,” Thaddeus mutters, just low enough for Beau to hear. He clicks his beak, just once, at the field mouse on the employee’s shoulder, and Beau resists the urge to push him off her shoulder.

They’re led to a table near the front, a waiter comes over, monkey daemon trotting behind, and they place orders for their meals. Then, they wait. Beau shoots a glance around the room. It’s about what she’d expected, mostly rich noblemen here for a show. There’s a couple surprising faces though, even a couple curled close against each other. Their daemons, both cats, are curled up in a pile against each other as well.

Beau nudges Caleb, gesturing to them as subtly as she can. “Check it.”

Caleb raises an eyebrow. “I guess it is less unusual here.”

“I know, just odd to see huh?” Beau replies. Caleb hums in acknowledgement.

It’s next to unheard of in the Empire to touch another person’s daemon, no matter how close you are. Those that do it don’t tell anyone about it, and keep it behind closed doors. Beau read about how it’s different on the Menagerie Coast, how it’s a sign of trust and love beyond anything else. In another life, Beau might like it. Thaddeus is too likely to swallow someone whole for trying to touch him for her to even consider it. 

Their food comes as the room continues to fill. It’s delicious, well worth the trip on their own. Beau’s halfway through her chicken when the Ruby of the Sea makes her entrance. 

Beau doesn’t stop eating immediately, because quite frankly she’s hungry, but when the first note leaves the Ruby’s mouth it takes all her monk instincts to not drop her fork. 

The Ruby’s voice like nothing she’s heard before. It’s discordant, it’s beautiful, it’s full of a longing that makes Beau ache from the second it touches her ears. Goosebumps rise on her skin. Her feet call her to get out of her chair— to walk towards the Ruby. Beau doesn’t, but it’s a battle she almost loses.

It’s so enchanting she’d wonder if it was magical, but magical enchantments don’t work on her anymore, and this is certainly working.

There’s an interruption a few minutes into the performance, though. Caleb frantically grabs the shoulder that Thaddeus isn’t on, so tightly that Beau’s grateful for the leather pad. Beau tears herself away from the performance to shoot him a worried glance. 

“She doesn’t have a daemon,” he whispers. Frumpkin’s already kneading carefully into his shoulder, his tail lashing.

“Not that we can see, she probably has one hidden somewhere,” Beau replies, trying to pretend that the realization doesn’t panic her as well. Now that she’s noticed it, it looks, like, _wrong,_ like the Ruby is only half a person.

“Beau’s right, plenty of people have hamsters, or bugs, or other things they could hide, Caleb. There’s no way she’d be here this long if she were a Vollstrecker,” Frumpkin purrs, and Beau knows it’s serious because he’s acknowledging Beau as well, using Common to allow her to understand the two of them.

“Not in that outfit,” Caleb’s voice is still shaking.

“There’s plenty of places to hide a small enough daemon. You know, pockets, and, you know.” Beau waggles her eyebrows at him, and Caleb’s still connected enough to grimace.

“You’re disgusting, but also, maybe correct,” he admits after a minute. He moves his hand from Beau’s shoulder, and Beau lets him go, giving his hand one last squeeze.

“Damn right I am, now, enjoy the show with me. Let me worry about where she might be hiding that bad boy.”

“I will. Just be careful when you’re alone with her, alright?” Caleb says.

Beau nods. “I will. We should shut up, though. If we interrupt the performance she’ll think we’re rude.”

Caleb nods and falls silent. The rest of the songs are equally as impressive, though Caleb’s interruption reminded Beau to stay on alert. This woman may be amazing, but she may also be a smuggler of stolen children. Beau tries to focus on catching a glimpse of her daemon instead of her enchanting tune.

She fails more than a few times. But it’s a noble effort.

As the final song comes to an end, the Ruby of the Sea gives a bow. She spots Beau from the stage and a delighted smile blooms across her face. Beau almost forgets that this whole thing is staged, that the Ruby of the Sea is delighted to see her because of the money exchanged, that she can’t actually spend the night with her.

The Ruby of the Sea approaches her with that same, private smile, and kneels down to be level with Beau, who’s still sitting.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen such overwhelming beauty,” her eyes fall to Beau’s arms, “and strength.”

The rest of the room is still watching, but this exchange feels so private.

“What’s your name?” Ruby asks, and Beau almost forgets it.

“Beauregard, uh, you can— Beau. Just Beau,” she stammers.

“Just Beau,” Ruby replies, her smile twisting the stammer into a private little joke between them, then, “Beau,” letting out the word like she’s tasting it. Her smile shifts to something more secretive. “Beau, Beau, Beau.”

It sounds new in her mouth, like the most wonderful tidbit of information that Beau could have given her. Her eyes are… like, _literally_ enchanting, or as close as someone can probably get to it without using actual magic. Wow. Alright. Beau _gets_ it.

“Would you like to spend the night with me, Beau?” There it is, there’s the arrangement Beau needs. Beau nods, blindly, suddenly feeling incredibly inexperienced.

This woman is _good_ at her job. Even Thaddeus’ grip on Beau’s shoulders is quiet, relaxed. The Ruby of the Sea takes Beau’s hand, sending shivers up her spine. She leads Beau out of the room, and just for a moment Beau falls into the illusion and lets herself pretend that she can sleep with this woman, hear her enchanting voice in an _entirely_ different context. Gods, she wishes she could. 

_Technically,_ she could probably ask her questions after they fuck. Technically. Except then, both Caleb and the Cobalt Soul would tear her apart, and the odds of actually getting answers after are bad. Even more likely—if Ruby is really as good as they say she is, the odds of Beau even _remembering_ she had questions to ask are pretty damn low, too.

Also like, if this woman actually had been stealing kids for years and isn’t as reformed as she seems, Beau doesn’t want to sleep with her. No matter how hot she is. 

Or, she knows she _really_ shouldn’t. Wanting is kind of… well, that’s not up to Beau.

She _won’t,_ though.

Ruby closes the door behind them—since when did they get up the stairs?—and asks, “Do you mind if I get comfortable?”

Beau answers, automatically, “Yeah, sure, knock yourself out.”

Ruby pulls her dress up and off her flawless red skin, and then she’s— she’s—Beau almost scoffs at herself for the amount of wonder that goes into the thought—she’s _naked._

Beau… _won’t_ sleep with this woman.

“Mm. Much better. The things I wear for performing are so… heavy.”

She _won’t._

Her skin _isn’t_ flawless, not really, Beau sees now. There are hundreds of dark red freckles smattered along her shoulders, and the bit of imperfection just makes her… wow.

Beau _will not._

When Ruby picks up the robe, however sheer, from the bed, and wraps it around herself, Beau finally starts to breathe again. She wasn’t actually aware that she _stopped,_ but that didn’t seem to matter to the actual working mechanism of her respiratory system.

“Would you like some tea?” Ruby asks.

“Uh, yeah.” Beau’s suddenly a little on edge. Are they talking, suddenly? Has the Ruby somehow been tipped off to what Beauregard and Caleb know, does she know what their plan is? She’s suddenly on edge. “Do you… usually, like, sit with clients?”

She can practically feel Ruby look her over, notice her tenseness, and the seductive demeanor shifts suddenly, practiced, into cloying and comforting. “Not always. Just when I think we could use some conversation before we…” She trails off, leaving Beau to fill in the obvious blank. “I operate under the idea that every night I spend with a client should be _special,_ in its own unique way. I’ve never had the pleasure of speaking with you, Beau, I’ve never had the pleasure to have a conversation with you. I would love to get to know you, more than just your Cobalt Soul title and your pretty face. I think that connection is what really makes our night special. Why not start that connection here, and continue it in my bed? Once we understand each other—”

“Right,” Beau interrupts. So it seems, at least, like this isn’t just that Ruby knows what the fuck Beau is up to. That’s nice, at least. “Can I ask you a question, first?”

Ruby smiles, nods. “Please, ask me anything.”

“Right.” Beau crosses the room to sit on the chaise lounge that’s clearly there for Ruby to entertain clients in a more intellectual way, partially to waste some time and plan out her thoughts, partially because if this beautiful woman keeps _smiling_ at her like that, her knees might give out.

Ruby follows her, sitting down with her thigh pressed up against Beau’s, and Beau stays very steadfast, professional, stoic, disinterested, and callous about it. Ruby starts playing with one of the seams of Beau’s pant leg and her arm goes to rest on the back of the loveseat behind Beau, and then Beau feels her nails start to run through the shaved part of her head and before Beau (or worse, _Thaddeus)_ starts fucking _purring_ Beau rushes to ask the question.

_“Doyoukillkids?”_

Curses and blessings, Ruby snatches her hands away from Beau _so_ quick. _“Excuse_ me?”

Beau winces. “Fuck. I’m sorry. That came out— bad. We just— the Cobalt Soul has been investigating reports of missing children and we got a tip that you’ve bought shit for kids in the past but we looked into it and you _don’t_ have a kid, and that’s, you know, obviously suspicious, given your status and your clientele and how many people you know from, like, _everywhere.”_

The Ruby blinks, clearly taken aback. “I… where did you get that information?”

Beau waves her hand. “It’s not important. Just…” She _totally_ ruined the mood. Which was definitely the point and everything, but like, _still._ “The Cobalt Soul is an organization dedicated to the truth. So don’t bother lying and saying we’ve got our facts wrong— I can promise you that we don’t. On Ioun, and everything.”

Ruby regards Beau for a good few seconds, sizing her up. “What would you do if I were to call in my bodyguard right now, and have you thrown out for asking such a rude, unpleasant, impertinent question?”

Beau shrugs. “We’d look further into your accounts, probably. Press the Zolezzo for their help, get them involved. At some point the Chateau gets searched, gets the bad press associated with that. Cobalt Soul has reach outside the Empire, too, and it’s not just the Empire that’s getting these reports. I’m sure we’d get it somewhere. You could just make it a whole lot easier.”

The Ruby smiles. “I’m not really known for being easy, Beauregard.”

Beau shrugs, stands up. “Fine, be that way. Thaddeus, let’s g—”

Ruby grabs her wrist. “Sit down, Beau, please. That was a joke. I’m sorry. It was the wrong time for one.” Beau sits, more properly than they were before, more faced towards the woman, who has lost all pretense, it seems, of coyness and seduction. She just looks a little bit tired. “I… I don’t want anyone else to be given trouble over this. I’m sure it’s an issue. I don’t mean to be difficult, I just… you surprised me, and I am protective. I’m sure you’d think appropriately so. May I explain?”

“Go right ahead.”

Ruby doesn’t speak for a few seconds, and eventually gets up to retrieve her discarded dress. She turns it from inside out and starts fiddling with a large red gem that Beau had paid a lot of attention to while she was singing, due to it being the point of the deep V neckline that showed off the Ruby’s ample cleavage. Suddenly, the gem pops open and out buzzes a small insect, of what description Beau can’t discern from this distance.

“Is that your daemon?”

“Mhm,” Ruby replies. “This is Gentle. And you may call me Marion. Did you give me your real name?”

“Yeah,” Beau says. She kind of feels… weird, now that this is a conversation more than an interrogation. She planned out her threats thinking that Ru—Marion—was a kidnapper and would need to be properly threatened into giving it all up. This woman… she just feels nice.

“Good. Well, Beau, as long as we’re being honest, I thought you may as well see my daemon and know my name. The answer to your question is not so suspicious as you were thinking. I have a child.”

Beau sits back a little bit. _That,_ the Cobalt Soul had _not_ uncovered.

Marion smiles. “You’re surprised. No, Beau. I have a daughter, a lovely girl named Jester. She’s perhaps a few years younger than you are. She is who I have purchased things for. Cribs and paints and clothes and toys. All of it, for her.”

Beau nods. “So you still have her?”

“I do.”

“May I meet her?”

“I,” Marion winces. “Must you?”

“I can’t just take you at your word. Not when there’s not even rumors about you and a kid,” Beau explains, trying to be apologetic.

“It figures that I would keep a secret too well to keep keeping it,” Marion muses, and stands. “I’ll ask Bluud to fetch her, if that is okay?”

“Go ahead,” Beau says, waving her on. She’s much more inclined to trust Marion, now that she can see her daemon. She’s _pretty_ sure it’s not just that she’s attracted to her, too. She has a reason for trusting her beyond that, though, now that Marion has a daemon. 

Marion ducks her head out the door and has a hushed conversation with the bodyguard. Beau feels weird eavesdropping, so she doesn’t. 

Footsteps fade down the hall, and Marion closes the door, taking a thicker robe from the wall and slipping it on over her sheer one. 

“Can I trust that you will be— discreet with this information? I’m sure you understand, but there are plenty of people in this city who would love to have something to hold over me. I’d prefer that my daughter get involved in that.” Marion sits back down.

“Of course. If you’re not involved in the smuggling of children, there’s no reason this needs to go beyond members of the Cobalt Soul. You have my utmost discretion,” Beau promises. It feels good to be able to agree to something, at least.

Marion sighs, “Thank you. I do appreciate that.” She rubs a hand over her face, “I didn’t even know the Cobalt Soul looked into individuals like this. Though I suppose I’ve heard of them in passing.”

“We try our best to keep it that way. People don’t hide if they don’t know what they’re hiding from.”

Marion nods, “Makes sense.”

The door bursts open. There’s a blue tiefling practically vibrating in the doorway, with a crimson weasel perched on her shoulders. She doesn’t look anything like what Beau expected the Ruby of the Sea’s secret daughter to be, if Beau had ever anticipated that. She’s covered in paint, and she’s absolutely beaming.

If Beau were asked to describe the opposite of a secret shut away and her daemon, she would have gotten close what Jester looks like. Her hair’s half pulled back into a bun that has no semblance of neatness, and Beau spends longer than is probably necessary looking at the smattering of freckles across her face and shoulders.

She’s cute, too. This is not Beau’s night for put together questioning. 

“Hi! I’m Jester!” She holds out her hand and Beau returns the gesture, but instead of shaking her hand like she’d expect, Jester’s daemon scurries down her arm and onto Beau’s hand.

Beau stumbles back, terrified of slighting her, but before she can get out of the way the weasel has climbed up her arm and is on her shoulder, sniffing lightly at her face.

“I’m Sprinkles!” He announces, seemingly unbothered by the fact that a complete stranger is holding him.

“I— Nice to—” Beau’s at a loss for words. Thaddeus is fluttering alarmed in the air behind her, feathers fluffed around him. 

Holding someone else’s daemon is… odd. Sprinkles is warm, which Beau guesses makes sense but still feels weird. Thaddeus is warm usually, she thinks. She doesn’t touch him much anymore. He’s lighter than he should be for his size, and soft. Tingles run over her shoulder, down through her hand. It’s definitely weird.

“Oh, Sprinkles, you like her, huh! He doesn’t usually do that this early,” Jester explains. Her smile remains, seemingly completely unphased by how much faith she just put in Beau.

Marion seems to sense Beau’s discomfort. “Jester dear, Beau is from the Empire. Daemon touching is— less normal there. We talked about this, remember?”

Jester deflates, and the frown looks so wrong on her face that Beau feels her heart ache. “I’m sorry, do you want me to take him back? I didn’t mean to be rude! I don’t meet a lot of people and he wanted to, so I thought—”

Beau needs this to end. “No! No! It’s totally okay. He can stay as long as he likes, um, it just—” She doesn’t know how to finish that sentence.

In reality, she’s just— well, she’s half-worried she’ll drop him, and the other half of her is screaming at her to drop him, because this is _taboo._ Like, the worst kind of taboo. Like, she’s _gotta_ be hurting Jester, right? If someone touched Thaddeus, she’d— well, _no_ one touches Thaddeus. Last time they did, she— well.

Fuck. Fuck, she’s _gotta_ be hurting Jester. Shit. Fuck. Beau remembers all too well the sick, _wrong_ feeling of Thaddeus in someone else’s hands, the pain and the confusion and the fear and the taste of tears she had no hope of controlling, the violation— 

“Shit. Sprinkles, I’m— I’m—” Beau starts, and Thaddeus is suddenly on her and fluffing up on her shoulder like he does in fights, pressing his full weight against the side of Beau’s head like somehow that’s gonna make either of them forget about that touch, like it’s not burned into their bond as much as they pretend it isn’t. She steps towards Jester, not putting her arm down, practically begging Jester to fix this, to not take offense, to not be hurt.

Jester smiles, but takes the few steps forward necessary for Sprinkles to run back down Beau’s arm and leap to Jester, but not before Sprinkles puts his little weasel tongue out and gives Beau a small lick up the side of her cheek. She’s _sure_ it’s meant to be comforting.

Beau shivers, and the next thing she knows, Sprinkles is wrapped around Jester’s neck and both of them are looking at her expectantly.

Right. She’s got a job.

The skin that was touching Sprinkles still tingles, but it feels rude to rub at it. It’s not unpleasant either, so she leaves it alone.

“I’m Beauregard Lionett, just call me Beau, though, and I work for the Cobalt Soul. The Cobalt Soul is currently investigating a large of number of child disappearances. They’ve been happening over the past few years, and have only been increasing in frequency. Because of your mom’s purchases for you, we thought that she’d been smuggling kids and then gave it up or something.” The script’s easy once she recovers herself. 

“It seems I kept my secret too well, they hadn’t even heard of you, my little sapphire,” Marion chimes in. Her daemon, some sort of beetle, has landed on her hand, and she’s absentmindedly stroking a finger over him.

“Oh— Well, I’m glad I could clear it up! Mama would never do that,” Jester says.

“I see that now, but I just had to check. It’s kinda disappointing, though, if I’m honest, you were our last major lead,” Beau says. “From now on, it’s kind of a guessing game.”

“You said stolen children? I actually know something about that, I think!” Jester says.

“You do? How? What? Any lead’s a good lead.”

“The Traveller told me—” Jester starts, but Marion makes a worried noise and cuts her off.

“Jester— Beau is very nice but we just met her, and she works for an official _Empire_ institution. I doubt she’s very interested in the Traveler,” Marion warns. The emphasis on Empire lets Beau realize. Marion thinks she’s an Empire snitch.

“I can promise you that I’m not going to go running to the authorities if it’s a legal issue. The Cobalt Soul worships Ioun, we value knowledge wherever we can find it. Also I’m not a snitch, if you can help, seriously, whatever you can give,” Beau says. Jester exchanges a nervous glance with Marion, who shrugs. 

“The Traveler’s my god! He talks to me, and gives me magic, and lately I’ve been having dreams about stolen children. Not anything specific, he says he doesn’t know enough details to tell me them but— Some things! Enough things that I think I could be helpful at least!” Jester seems delighted to talk about this illegal god.

It’s way more endearing than it should be.

“He talks to you? You mean, like, signs, right? Does he send you just signs and dreams, or what? What kind of magic can you do? That’s next to unheard of from a god.” Beau’s flabbergasted. If this is true, it’s insane.

Caleb can do some magic, sure, but it’s almost all ritual based, and what’s not ritual based is because of various systems of daemon experimentation that Beau doesn’t know a lot about. She does know that it fucked him up as a kid. True magic is rare in the Empire, divine magic even rarer, and illegal beyond that. Those who can do it make sure to keep it quiet.

“He just shows up sometimes and talks to me! And, good magic I think! I can heal for him, and I can do this!” Jester moves her hands, as she does all the windows slam open with a loud bang.

Marion sighs, “Jester, darling— Remember when we talked about doing quiet magic?”

“Oh! Sorry!” The windows all close, still rattling when they do. “But yeah! I can do that, and heal people sometimes, and I’m sure other things I just haven’t tried yet!”

Beau blinks, dumbfounded, “This is all from your god? That’s— Unheard of. That’s really cool. What information do you have? I’ll definitely take it.”

“It’s kinda vague, is the only thing. I just feel kids panicking, there’s a lot of people? It seems like maybe a party or something— They’re not in the party, though, but there’s the sounds of a celebration. There’s usually like, distant explosions, but no one panics when they hear the explosions. It’s like they’re used to them? It doesn’t make a lot of sense.” Jester seems almost sheepish now that she’s explaining it.

But that means something to Beau. Controlled explosions only happen consistently in one city, Hupperdook. They set off fireworks once a week, the townspeople would be completely used to it.

“Jester, you just gave me another lead. That’s insanely helpful. _Thank_ you.” Beau stands up. She instinctively starts to look for her things to grab, but remembers she didn’t come in with anything, “I should go. I need to tell my friend, we should get ready to go, if we move on this information it might work—”

“I want to come with you!” Jester blurts out. “I can help! I have magic!”

“I don’t know—” Beau starts, but then Beau looks at her, and Jester seems so genuinely excited at the prospect of going on an adventure. 

Sure, she’s likely never left this place, and definitely doesn’t have much actual combat experience. But if she has magic, which Beau has every reason to believe she does, and a connection with a god that’s actually willing to directly intervene, that might just make up for it. Caleb would have to stay behind— The Cobalt Soul will only fund two people, but having Caleb keep an eye on the coast wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

“You’re sure you want to come? This could be seriously dangerous— These people aren’t fucking around, if they’ve been taking kids I don’t what else they’re capable of.” It only feels right to warn her.

“The Traveler will protect me! Besides, I’ve been dreaming of these kids and their fear for so long and they’re so scared. I want to help! I want to do something.” Jester turns her baby blues on Marion, and Beau can tell the argument is over before it’s begun.

“You promise to be careful? Come home right away if it seems too dangerous, this is important but you’ll always be more important,” Marion says.

“I promise!” Jester confirms.

Marion turns her gaze to Beau. “Do you promise to keep her safe?” 

“I promise.” There’s an authenticity to Beau’s promise that doesn’t usually find a place in her voice. 

“Then you can go. Stay safe, my little sapphire.” Marion hugs Jester tightly. Beau brims with jealousy. She only entertains it for a second, but there’s real love here. She wants that.

“Thank you, Marion. I’m sorry for accusing you of kidnapping children.” It’s suddenly awkward in the room. Thaddeus leaves Beau’s shoulder, flapping beside her.

“That’s alright. It was bound to happen eventually, I guess. Good luck, get those kids back,” Marion says.

Jester hugs her one last time on the way out, and they both head to where Beau left Caleb. Next stop, Hupperdook. With this strange tiefling who doesn’t mind anyone holding her daemon, and has a god that directly lets her cast magic.

Beau has no idea what she’s gotten herself and Thaddeus into. 

She's excited to find out.


	2. New Horizons

The trip to Hupperdook passes by uneventfully. Beau learns that Jester really has never left the Lavish Chateau, and certainly never left Nicodranas. She’s excited about almost everything they pass. When they stop the horses for the night Jester sketches their surroundings before they go to sleep in the back. It’s sweet, really.

Jester talks to the Traveler, too, when she thinks Beau’s asleep. She’ll chatter away to this god that, as far as Beau can see, straight up isn’t there. But Jester’s magic is, and that’s something in it of itself. 

The weirdest part about the journey is that Thaddeus lets Sprinkles touch him. Beau doesn’t touch Sprinkles, not after that first meeting, but when they went to bed the first night in the wagon the crimson weasel had sauntered up to Thaddeus, sniffed his beak, then settled against his side. Thaddeus had paused, shuffled a bit, and gone to sleep right there. Thaddeus usually gives the default acknowledgement to daemons, enough that to stay polite but he certainly doesn’t usually _cuddle_ with them. 

Beau thought about asking about it. She decided it wasn’t worth the effort. 

Even Thaddeus can’t hide his excitement when Hupperdook appears on the horizon, though.

“Okay— So I’ve never actually _been_ to this place, but I’ve heard a fuck ton about it. Hardworking during the day, and then they party all night. Great introduction to regular life.” Beau’s beaming.

Jester waves her hands excitedly in front of her. “That sounds amazing! So much to see!”

“Yep. I’m thinking business during the day, and then excitement at night, just like the localslite. Sun’s gonna set soon, too, should we find an inn and get ready?” Beau suggests.

“Yeah! That sounds perfect!” Jester replies. Sprinkles is balanced between Jester’s horns, standing on his hind legs and sniffing at the air.

“Alright. Let’s get this show on the road, then.” 

The horses are nervous when they first enter the town, the loud banging of the metalworks setting the animals ill at ease. They calm without much incident when Jester reaches down to pat their neck and tell them they’re doing a good job. Beau wouldn’t ask them to run a race in the state they’re in, but they’re able to drag the wagon through town without much issue.

Beau finds a stable and they pay a man with a vole daemon two gold to keep the horses for three nights. They promise to pay more if they stay longer, though Beau’s hoping they won’t have to.

The streets are still empty, because though the sun’s starting to go down, it hasn’t yet, and the townsfolk are still hard at work. There’s a bar with an inn above it, and that seems perfect.

Inside is a little worn down, but still nice enough. The lady manning the desk has a tortoise daemon sitting by the counter.

“Could we get a room for two for three nights?” Beau asks, approaching.

The woman looks up and sighs, opening and flipping through a heavy book. “I’ll have to look, it’s rather busy this time of year, you’re sure you can’t manage just one bed?”

Beau shoots a glance back at Jester, who, if she didn’t know better, she would think was graffiting something on the corner of the bar. She blushes, just a little.

“That won’t work. We can stay somewhere else if there’s no room.”

“Nah.” The lady waves her hand. “Four gold pieces and the room’s yours. Food and drink not included.”

“Great.” Beau knows she’s being upcharged, but fuck it, it’s the Cobalt Soul’s money anyways.

Beau coughs up the coin and, of course, once she has the money the old woman smiles. “Enjoy your stay.”

“Jes! Wanna drop off our stuff and go explore?” Jester jumps when Beau calls her, and Beau squints. She might actually have been defacing something. Huh.

“Yeah!” Jester replies, and the woman drops room keys into Beau’s open palm.

Beau nods to the woman, then to her daemon, and follows Jester up the stairs. The tiefling is almost bouncing on her heels as Beau unlocks the inn door, and as soon as the door’s open, Jester is inside, looking around, depositing Sprinkles on one of the twin beds that the small room boasts. His nose twitches as he sniffs and trots over to the head of the bed to paw at the pillowcase.

“Not nearly as good as the Lavish Chateau,” he tells Jester, who shrugs and smiles.

“Well, we _knew_ it was gonna be like that, Sprinkles. There’s probably, like, _no_ inns that are as good as the Chateau,” Jester says.

“Yeah, your place is pretty damn good,” Beau replies. “But this place is decent. The beds are a little small, but we aren’t sharing ‘em. We can deal.”

And, frankly, thank Ioun that they’re not sharing them. Beau flicks her eyes down Jester’s form and licks her lips, and crosses the room to the bed Sprinkles isn’t on. She drops her bag on the bed, Thaddeus fluttering over to rest on the headboard. Sprinkles leaps over to the bed Beau’s claimed to scrabble up onto the headboard next to him. Beau makes eye contact with Thaddeus and gets the distinct impression that he’s embarrassed before Thaddeus drops her eyes to knock his beak against Sprinkles’ proffered nose. Seemingly satisfied, the weasel moves to sniff at Beau’s things. “Are you unpacking?”

“Nah,” Beau replies. “It’s probably useless. I’m getting out my cash and getting changed, probably, then we’re gonna go out.”

Sprinkles nods, leaping back to Jester’s bed. She scoops him up and he nuzzles at her neck before getting up onto her shoulders, and Beau notes that both tiefling and daemon’s tails are lashing.

Beau pulls out her hair tie to re-tie it for the night, and, yep, Jester pounces at the first sign of movement.

“What is this going to be like?”

Beau shrugs. “I’ve never been. Fun? Probably? Everyone says it’s a good time.”

Jester nods, considering. “Okay.”

She then pulls her dress off over the top of her head, and Sprinkles squeaks and leaps to the bed, and Beau turns around.

“What are you doing?”

“Changing? I want to go to the party in a different dress!”

Beau, who hasn’t worn a dress since she was, like, sixteen, and who has been morally opposed to her own self wearing dresses for about as far back as she can remember, says, “Okay,” and picks at a loose thread on her sleeve while she waits for the rustle of fabric to stop.

“You know, I don’t mind if you look,” Jester tells her, once that has happened. “Can you lace me up?”

“Felt polite,” Beau replies, rather than dissecting that particular quip. She turns back, to do as Jester asks. Easy enough. It’s a dress not too dissimilar from the one Jester was wearing, but less travel-worn. Beau ties a bow at the top, right underneath Jester’s shoulderblades, and pats her on the shoulder.

“Yeah! I don’t mind, though. You know how the Menagerie Coast is about daemon touching?”

“Yeah?”

“We’re right next to the beach so we don’t mind a little nudity, either. And, you know my mama. I don’t mind you seeing me!”

“Different rules, I get it. I don’t mind you being naked, or undressed, or whatever, if you don’t mind me seeing? Just didn’t wanna, y’know, be looking if you didn’t want me to.”

Jester turns, grins, and Beau isn’t sure whether she’s relieved or disappointed that she doesn’t _say_ that she wants Beau to be looking.

“Sun’s going down. Let’s get out, yeah? First party out of Nicodranas, let’s not waste it, huh?”

“Yeah! C’mon, Sprinkles, let’s go!” Jester grabs her daemon, who chitters out something affirmative before Jester rushes out of the room.

Beau sighs, sends up a vague prayer to Ioun, and stuffs her coin in her pocket. “Let’s go, Thaddeus. Make sure I don’t make an ass of myself.”

“I get affected when you get drunk, too,” Thaddeus grumbles, a line he’s said a hundred times and, if Beau has any say in the matter, he’ll say so a hundred times more.

* * *

They’re both out of breath from the climb up the roof, Jester more so than Beau. Beau reaches the roof first, and leans down to offer her hands to Jester to yank her up. Jester shakes her head with a grin, lifting her own body weight in a dead pull up.

Beau needs to remember to ask her what her workout routine was to get so buff while locked in a room. It’s seriously impressive.

“Okay, hopefully my idea worked,” Beau says, holding a hand out palm up to lead Jester to the other side of the roof.

Jester smiles again, crinkling her nose in a way that Beau first noticed their tenth day on the road. She swore not to be endeared. Now, a little drunk on adrenaline and a lot drunk on booze, she lets herself fall into it. Jester takes her hand though, and the sparks across their palms are worth it.

Sprinkles is excited too. He’s kept his post securely on Jester’s shoulder, but keeps leaning forward to sniff at Beau or towards Thaddeus. Even Thaddeus, at the very least, hasn’t caused trouble tonight. 

He might even be enjoying himself.

The view when they get to the edge of the rooftop takes even Beau’s breath away.

The whole city is laid bare below them, the hustle and bustle of the partying in the main city most obvious, but below that is the ironworks left silent for the night. Lights in a few houses are on, those who resigned from the festivals early.

“It’s beautiful. There’s so many people, so much to see,” Jester says, awestruck.

“We know the world was big, but knowing and seeing are so different,” Sprinkles adds.

Beau shakes her head, a fond smile on her own face, “As far as views go, this one’s pretty outstanding even by our standards. Our tip was good.” 

Thaddeus doesn’t reply, but he’s settled himself on the roof close to Jester instead of flying as far away as Beau’s bond will allow.

“Yeah, they were really nice.” Jester hasn’t let go of Beau’s hand. She sits down, tugging Beau down with her.

Beau plops herself ungracefully onto the ground, letting her body lean against Jester. She’ll blame the booze for her balance, and not that crinkle nosed grin.

Before either of them can say anything else, the first firework erupts. It’s loud, loud enough that Jester drops Beau’s hand to cover her ears, much to Beau’s disappointment.

They’re beautiful, too, though, like nothing Beau has ever seen. The color against the dark is striking, the cheers from the city increasing with each explosion. After a few though, Beau’s attention drifts to the view next to her instead.

Beau watches the light from the fireworks dance over Jester’s face. Her head’s thrown back in laughter, the red mixing with the blue of her skin to make a beautiful purple. At one point her delighted laughs turn into snorting giggles and the joy in that sound punches Beau so hard in the gut she almost keels over.

She wants to figure out how to get Jester to make that sound every minute of every day, wants to take this girl she just met and have her laugh and smile her whole life away.

Instead, Beau takes a swig of her drink. When it hits her gut she tells herself the booze is where the heat is coming from. The blurred edges is what is making her want Jester so dearly.

In the morning, she tells herself, as the hangover fades, this certainly will too. It has with most of the people she thought she loved.

* * *

As the sun is just starting to peek over the horizon, Beau notices a hand sneaking into her pocket. She’s almost too drunk to feel the shift in weight as a hand tugs at her pouch. Unfortunately for the would-be thief, her drunken swaying was taking her the other direction and her hand darts out to grab their wrist.

Beau is ready to use the weight of an adult against them to flip them to the ground, but then she stops. She looks down to see that her would-be thief is a child, dark hair and raggedy clothes and dark eyes, which are very rapidly approaching tears.

“What the fuck, kid,” because really, what else is she supposed to say.

“I’m sorry— I’m just so hungry, please don’t hurt me, I’m sorry—” The approaching tears blubber over into real tears, and, aw shit, the kid’s sobbing. Her daemon, a black bird, is shuffling around her feet looking pretty pitiful as well.

“Okay— Okay!” Beau lets go of her hand and glances around frantically for Jester.

She’s not back from getting them some early morning food yet, fuck. 

“Okay, I’m not going to hurt you. Don’t worry. I—” Beau rubs her face, she’s too drunk for this. “Where’s your family? What’s your name?” 

“I’m Kiri,” the girl sniffles. “My family’s gone, I don’t know where they are.”

“Okay, well. You still can’t just, like, steal.” Beau’s not sure where this lecture is going.

“I know it’s bad.” The little girl wipes her nose. “I just don’t know what else to do. I’m scared.” Her lip wobbles and she bursts back into tears.

Thankfully, this is when Jester appears with their food. Jester’s face falls at the crying child, and she sets the food on the table Beau’s standing near before kneeling down to be at Kiri’s level.

“What’s the matter?”

When Kiri doesn’t stop crying long enough to answer, Jester looks to Beau for results.

“I caught her trying to pick my pocket, so I yelled at her. Turns out she doesn’t have a family, and she’s starving and has nowhere to go. I’m not really sure what we do from here,” Beau explains.

“Well! We can fix part of that right away,” Jester smiles. “Do you want some of our food— What’s your name?”

“Kiri,” the little girl sniffles.

“Kiri! Do you want some food?” Jester offers. Kiri wipes her snotty face and nods.

Jester slides one of the plates piled high with breakfast over to the little girl. She starts to devour it so fast that there’s no gaps in which she can talk.

“Easy there, kid, I don’t want you to hurl,” Beau warns. Kiri doesn’t acknowledge it, but does slow the pace of her eating. 

While she eats, Beau turns to Jester, lowering her voice. “What do we do? I mean, we can’t just leave her can we?”

“Of course not! She can travel with us!” Jester sounds very excited at the prospect of dragging this kid along.

“I think you might be absorbing my alcohol, is that one of your magic powers? Seriously, though, what we’re doing is dangerous. I don’t think we can bring a kid along with us.”

“You’re right, but we can’t just leave her to starve.” Jester makes a good point. Especially with those wide purple eyes of hers. Beau is leaned too close.

“Yeah, but, I don’t know, maybe we can find somewhere to drop her off? Like, an orphanage, or a nice family?” Beau suggests, leaning back. Way too far back. Whoops.

She rights herself on the table’s bench right as Jester chirps, “Sure! And we can keep her in our room until we do that? We can share a bed so she can have one?”

Beau flushes once again at the thought of sharing a bed with Jester, but shrugs it off as if her gut isn’t turning. She’s exhausted, and the floor fucking sucks.

“If the kid’s cool with it it’s cool with me.”

Jester explains the plan to Kiri, and the little girl’s face lights up. She doesn’t stop thanking them until they get to the room. Once she lays down, she’s out in an instant. Beau mutters instructions to Jester to wake her around noon and passes out.

She pretends not to notice Jester settling down to sleep beside her. Pretends not to notice the warmth of her skin against Beau’s, the soft sigh Jester makes as she falls asleep. She doesn’t even really notice the instinct to pull Jester close to her when she twitches heavily as she falls asleep. Beau’s got this under control.

* * *

True to her word, Jester shakes Beau awake somewhere around noon. She doesn’t have Caleb’s freaky time thing, but she does have less of a hangover, so the sun woke her up before it woke Beau.

Beau has complaints about the sun.

And the morning.

And the work that she has to do despite her pounding head.

These complaints come in the form of Beau grunting and turning over, trying to avert her eyes from the open drapes in the window.

“Thaddeus, peck her awake, okay?”

Beau hears Thaddeus grumble in a sort of refusing tone, and smiles into her pillow. _That’s_ her daemon.

Jester rolls her to her back, and when Beau opens her eyes to complain about it, Jester is two inches from her face, purple irises and blown pupils paired like fine wine to upturned lips, much too close to Beau’s own. “You asked me to wake you up, Beau! You can’t go back to sleep _now!”_

Beau kind of shrugs. “I don’t know, Jessie. Seems like I can.”

She’s going to blame the hangover or continued drunkenness for it, but she hooks her arm around Jester’s neck and pulls her down to her chest. “Shh. You can sleep in, too, Jester.”

Jester moves her head and Beau is suddenly, unpleasantly reminded that Jester has _horns_ as said horns dig into her ribs. “No, I can’t. Remember, Beau, we have work to do!” Her voice pitches down, shooting a glance to Kiri, still seemingly asleep in the other bed. “Kids are going missing. We can’t sleep in.”

“Oh,” Beau says, and lets go of Jester’s neck. “Right. Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

She feels bad for forgetting, hangover or no. That night out with Jester kind of just felt like time stopped for a bit, but no, they’re still on an incredibly important, time-sensitive mission.

“It’s okay! You’re sleepy. But we can’t sleep in. Do you want help with your hangover?”

Beau nods, a little hesitant.

Jester grins down at her, having pushed herself up from butting Beau’s chest, and scoops up a still-sleeping Sprinkles. He chirps and Jester pats Beau on the cheek. The pain in her head lessens, then clears, leaving Beau with an unshakeable thirsty feeling but no hangover. She blinks, then says, intelligently, “Uh.”

“The Traveller,” Jester explains.

“I love that dude,” Beau tells her, making her giggle, before continuing, “Can you get off me? I’m thirsty as fuck.”

Jester waggles her eyebrows but does move off Beau’s hips, and Beau pushes herself up to her elbows with a groan. She shoots a look to Thaddeus, who’s shuddering sleep off his fluffed-up feathers, preening down some of his primaries. As soon as he hops down onto the bed, Sprinkles moves to touch his nose to Thaddeus’ beak, and Thaddeus makes a low hooting sound, rubbing his beak against Sprinkles’ nose. It makes Beau wonder.

She’s never looked up normal owl behaviors before, not even since Thaddeus settled. Daemons will engage in many behaviors like the animals they emulate, if they’re not trying to act differently, and Beau’s never researched how great horned owls, like, _do_ shit. She wonders how Thaddeus is treating Sprinkles.

She catches a glimpse of Jester’s thighs as she pulls on stockings under her dress and makes eye contact with Thaddeus.

Maybe it’s best that neither of them know.

She stretches, clambers out of bed, and stands, stretching and moving to pluck her coat and sash up from the floor, and tugs her fingers through her hair to get rid of the worst tangles before throwing it up into a bun.

Jester takes another minute or two to get fully dressed, but once she is she leads the way down to the bar and Beau tries her best not to squint too much in the objectively dim hallway light. Her eyes are gonna have to get used to it, if they’re gonna be going out in the much brighter noon day.

“Jes, lunch?” she asks, taking Jester’s hand before the tiefling rushes out of the building.

“Oh! Yeah, okay! You need water, anyway. I’ll order,” Jester says.

Beau doesn’t bother telling her that she’s not the one with the money. After last night, that might not even be true. Last time Beau was really drunk with someone, they ended up buying drugs. Upon taking them, she ate dirt and cried about lost childhoods and fucked-up daemons.

Maybe they avoid getting drunk around Jester in the future. _Nothing_ is more embarrassing.

Jester comes back with two sandwiches and two glasses of water, both of which she pushes towards Beau. Beau downs one, eats a few bites, downs half of the other, and pushes it back towards Jester. “You stay hydrated, too,” she instructs.

Jester takes a sip like she was waiting to get the water back to help her swallow the sandwich she’s already eaten, and Beau spends the next few minutes dutifully chewing. Jester picks out the tomato from her sandwich and offers it to Sprinkles, who sniffs at it then shakes his head, and from there offers it to Thaddeus, who doesn’t even bother pretending like he might be interested.

“Thad doesn’t really eat,” Beau explains.

“Why not? He can, right?” Jester asks, head cocking just a few degrees in a way that Beau tries not to find cute.

“I mean, theoretically, yeah. But owls I think mostly eat meat, or only eat meat, and—”

Thaddeus interrupts. “I just don’t eat. I don’t need to, so what’s the point?”

“It’s tasty?” Sprinkles offers.

Thaddeus shrugs. Beau wonders. He used to like sweet things. Maybe owls can’t taste it.

Jester hums, looking Thaddeus over, and Beau feels a bit ashamed, suddenly, of Thaddeus, of how he is, how he acts. It washes away with her smile. “Well, I hope we can find you a food you like! And if you don’t like anything, I’ll just have to feed it to Beau.”

Thaddeus makes a quiet noise, like the hoot he did earlier. Beau takes another bite of her sandwich.

* * *

“Missing children?” Someone finally speaks up at the third work site Beau and Jester are at. Everyone else so far has been tight lipped, unwilling to speak to authority, even less official authority.

“Yes. We’re investigating missing children, we’re trying to put a stop to it,” Beau eagerly responds to the old man who replied.

“You’re not with the law, right?” He squints at Beau, his rattlesnake of a daemon flicking its tongue out at Thaddeus.

“Nope, Cobalt Soul. We appreciate knowledge in any form, even forms that other laws might frown on.” 

“If I hear word of this getting back to the guard, girl—” 

“It won’t. I promise, I get it.” Beau hopes this information will be real. His nerves seem like a good sign. 

“If you’re interested in children being taken when no one has any business taking ‘em, you should talk to the Shusters. I’m not gonna say anything else about it. That’s their business.”

“Where do they live?” Jester chimes into the conversation for the first time.

“Top of the hill, apartment building forty two, room three seventy four. I mean it, though. If they’re given any trouble—” Even from his gnome height, Beau’s intimidated. Maybe it’s the low rattle of his daemon, or the ice in his tone.

“They won’t. Thank you. We’re here to help, that’s all. I don’t want these children to be taken any more than you do. That’s why we hauled ass all the way here to figure this out, promise,” Beau says.

“Right, well—” he’s cut off by a loud whistle. “Shit, shift’s changing,” and he’s gone. They have their information, though. Or at least the first part of it.

“Let’s go visit the Shusters!” Jester says. Beau doesn’t know how she’s still so enthusiastic after a day of nos. It’s helping keep Beau up though.

“Let’s go save some kids before they’re taken,” she agrees, hoping her smile is a fraction of as optimistic as Jester’s is.

* * *

The address they were given ends up being difficult to find, only because “apartment building 42” isn’t a street name and apartment buildings seem to be numbered based on when they were built, rather than what street they were built on.

Beau’s just glad that Jester’s with her. She’s got a knack for pulling people aside and asking them for directions without feeling like she’s being intimidating, as Beau tends to feel. People smile at her and talk to her, and she talks back, and comes back to Beau with a wide smile that Beau can’t help but mirroring.

The building itself is about five stories, squat and wide with a doorway just a little shorter than normal human (or tiefling) comfort. Beau and Jester make their way up shortened stairs with their necks craned, and find apartment 374 pretty quick. They exchange a look, and Beau raps her knuckle on the wood.

There’s no answer for a minute.

Beau is about to suggest they come back later when the hinge creaks, door opening a crack.

A voice comes out. “Who are you?”

Beau straightens up, bangs her head on the ceiling, and resists swearing about it. “I— ow. I’m Beauregard, an Expositor for the Cobalt Soul. I’m with Jester Lavorre, an… associate of mine. May we come in?”

There’s obvious hesitation, but eventually the voice comes back. “The Cobalt Soul?”

“We’re looking for information. We’re investigating disappearances— we were told that the Shusters could tell us a bit about the kids that have been disappearing all over the Empire. That they could be found here,” Beau explains, after a quick hesitation to think about how much she actually wants to reveal to this nameless person inside. She figures, well, they’ll _definitely_ not talk to anyone they don’t think knows shit about these disappearances one way or the other.

There isn’t a reply, but the door slams shut and Beau hears the sliding of a chain lock before the door opens fully. It reveals a short gnomish woman with long curly hair and a somewhat distrusting look on her face as she looks Beau over. A rat on her shoulder blinks at Thaddeus and Beau steps to the side to give the woman a good look at Jester, too, who waves.

“Come inside,” the woman instructs, and Beau makes a ‘you first’ motion to let Jester go in first, who does with a small smile and curious eyes that take in the apartment around them as the door is closed behind the two of them. “You can sit down. I know it’s short in here.”

The couch is a little bit more like a short loveseat for Beau and Jester, but they manage, sitting with their thighs pressed together as the woman leaves what seems to be the living room to fetch another gnome, a middling-aged man with surprise more than distrust on his face. His daemon, a terrier mix with only three legs, moves to stand in front of who Beau assumes is his wife in a vaguely defensive stance.

“I’m Gilda Shuster, and this is my husband, Wallace,” the woman, Gilda, pipes up.

“Nice to meet you,” Jester says, with more sincerity than Beau could ever muster in her voice, whether she feels it or not. “I’m Jester, and this is Beau.”

“They’re from the Cobalt Soul. They’re asking about the disappearances,” Gilda explains to her husband.

“Any information you have would be helpful,” Beau explains.

The two gnomes exchange a look, and Wallace nods after a second.

“We don’t know about children they’re taking without anyone noticing, but we do know about children they’ve demanded,” he says.

“Demanded?” Beau asks.

“The authorities here, they— They discovered that we worshipped an illegal god. Instead of informing us that they know about this and asking us to stop, they placed a watch on our home. We were careless, and didn’t know we were being watched.” 

Gilda’s voice grows shaky and Wallace picks up her sentence for her.

He picks it up. “We, sometimes, and safely, practice divine magic. They saw us, and that was when they decided they wanted us, or more specifically, our children. They think divine magic is genetic, or something. I don’t know. We tried to tell them that wasn’t true, that our kids couldn’t do anything for them but—” his voice cracks.

“They took them anyway?” Beau says, and they both nod.

“That’s horrible!” Jester exclaims. “I’m so sorry that happened, you didn’t deserve that,”

The Shusters are holding each other now, but they nod in appreciation.

“Do you want to leave this town? Are you worried for your safety here?” Beau asks.

Gilda sniffles and nods, “We’re worried that we’ll be pursued if we stay but that it’ll be worse if we leave. We don’t have a safe way out, and we want the kids to be able to find us in case they’re returned.” 

“I’ll contact the Cobalt Soul and tell them to send you escorts, if you want them. Beyond that, they’ll keep a close eye on any children coming in and out of this area, and will contact you if anything comes up. We’re doing our best to get all of the children back, I promise,” Beau says.

“I can contact you, too! I have magic and spells so if we get any new leads I’ll send a message right into your brain!” Jester chimes in.

“That’s also true,” Beau says.

The Shusters make eye contact with each other before nodding.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. We need to be getting back now, but they should be contacting you in a couple of days, is that alright?”

“Yes. We’ll prepare to head out. Thank you again, and please— bring our children home,” Wallace pleads.

“I will do everything in our power,” Beau promises. She rises to leave, Jester with her, when Glinda moves across the room and pins them both in a hug before she can duck out of the way.

“Thank you. Thank you.” 

“Mhm,” Beau whimpers. She’s stronger than Beau expected.

Jester hugs her back, crushing Beau even further, “Of course. May the Traveler be with you.”

They exchange a few awkward goodbyes before leaving, Thaddeus significantly more puffed up than when they entered.

“Dude, what the fuck is your problem?” Beau hisses, letting Jester lead the way out of the building.

“Something’s wrong,” he tells her.

“What?”

“I don’t know. I just feel it.”

Beau, who’s heard this before but has been tired of paranoia since Thaddeus settled, tries to ignore it, but every brush of Thaddeus’ feathers against her neck tightens the knot in her chest so that every time she steps, she worries she won’t be able to untie it again.

* * *

“She could just be out,” Beau suggests, voice hinging on desperate.

“When we were coming back? When we promised to feed her?” Jester asks, Sprinkles wrapped tight around her neck. They’ve turned the room all but upside-down looking for the little girl that they left in the room.

“She might’ve not believed us.” It sounds hollow even to Beau’s ears. But Kiri’s gone, the room empty, and she didn’t have enough stuff to figure out if she’d left anything behind. A starving kid in a relatively safe place doesn’t just fuck off, and the timing of it can’t be coincidental. 

“We have to look for her, Beau.”

“Okay. Okay, yeah,” Beau replies, bringing herself to her feet again. “Let’s look for the rest of the day, then we check back in here?”

“We should leave a note.”

“Can she read?”

Jester only shrugs. They hadn’t asked. 

“Let’s leave it anyway. Can’t hurt. I’ll contact the Cobalt Soul tomorrow morning and tell them to pick up the Shusters and keep an eye out for her, if we don’t find her by tomorrow.”

Jester frowns, but nods. “Hopefully she hasn’t gone far.”

* * *

If Kiri’s gone far, Beau doesn’t know one way or the other. She’s disappeared either way, no one in the inn having seen her leave and no one around the inn recognizing her description. One or two gnomes they question as the night goes on recognizes her, but they don’t know where she might be, and they hadn’t seen her that night, and as they push past midnight, still searching, it becomes clear that the crowds on the street are getting too drunk to recognize a kid who was right in front of them.

Even though they can’t do anything more, Beau still has to swallow back the guilt in her throat when she calls off the search and notices Jester blinking back tears most of the way back to the inn.

The tiefling’s tail is dragging and she’s not speaking nearly as much as she usually does as they push through Hupperdook’s celebrating streets, and Beau just notices her hand stroking over Sprinkles’ back, who is curled tight around her neck with his face tucked against her chin.

It’s only when they get to the door to their room that Beau gets together the courage to speak, to try and say something that will help in some way. She ends up placing her hand on Jester’s back, just under her shoulder, careful not to touch Sprinkles. “We’ll find her, Jes. I promise.”

Jester is quiet for a second, opening up the door, and they both look in to a still-empty room, the note on the desk undisturbed. Her shoulders slump, and she turns around to throw her arms around Beau. Beau freezes for only a second before returning the hug, careful to avoid Jester’s horns as she buries her face in Beau’s neck.

“Can we still sleep in the same bed tonight?” Jester asks. “I don’t want— if she comes back—”

“Yeah. Yeah, we can keep a bed open for her,” Beau assures Jester, her hand going up to stroke through her hair, a bit awkwardly.

Sprinkles presses his nose against Beau’s wrist, clearly seeking his own comfort. Beau’s breath hitches a bit, but she gives Sprinkles a scratch on the top of his head before continuing on to card her fingers through Jester’s hair.

Jester falls asleep with Beau’s hands in her hair and her head on Beau’s chest, Sprinkles tucked underneath her chin on Beau’s stomach.

Beau has a hard time getting to sleep, herself. She tries, really, she does, but her heart feels like it’s racing in her chest from the day’s events and having Jester _and_ Sprinkles sleeping on her doesn’t help things.

At some point, late into the night, a few hours after the other two have already drifted off, Beau opens her eyes to meet Thaddeus’, reflecting the light outside in his wide owl’s eyes. He’s across the room from the three of them, on top of the dresser, his feathers still ruffled. Beau suddenly aches.

Someone else and someone else’s daemon on her chest, and her own is across the room, a stranger even as Beau’s soul. She wants to say something, wants to invite him over or something, wants to scratch his head like she did to comfort Sprinkles until the weasel fell asleep, too. But this is Thaddeus. Thaddeus doesn’t… get touched. He doesn’t snuggle with her, and he can’t, because he’s a fucking bird. Beau’s stupid for considering it. She and Thaddeus aren’t like that. If he needs comfort he can ask for it.

His neck turns his head away from her like he’s come to the same conclusion, and Beau’s throat closes up before she closes her eyes, too.

* * *

Beau wakes up early the next morning already sobbing, her soul tearing apart.

“Beau? Beau?” Jester’s voice only barely cuts through Beau’s own ragged, choking breath. “Beau, are you— Where’s Thaddeus?”


End file.
